@ david

“It has been stated on BU and elsewhere, some issues are best left non partisan.”

FACTS are the CENTRE i,e non-partisan/apolitical!!!

PATHWAYS TO PROGRESS (AKA PATHWAYS TO REGRESS)
(23) LAW AND ORDER

As a matter of urgency, the new DLP Government
will:
Provide better remuneration for Police
Officers
Improve and/or build new police stations
in designated areas
Increase the ranks in the police force creating
more promotion opportunities
Upgrade the Government Forensic Sciences
Centre to help solve outstanding
crimes and restore confidence in law enforcement
agencies
Permit the police force to function free of
political interference
Convert Glendairy Prison into a publicly funded
modern drug treatment and rehabilitation centre

Permit the police force to function free of
political interference

Permit the police force to function free of
political interference

AD NAUSEAM AD ABSURDUM

@BU.David: “Who has the evidence of wiretapping?

Wiretapping is just, like, so yesteryear…

Although many who don’t understand the “tech” may use terms which are familiar to them to describe what they’ve observed….

@BU.David: “Thanks, the bottomline is we don’t have local laws to guide wiretapping.

Actually, we do.

The CyberCrime laws of Barbados defines “Lawful Intercept”.

@BU.David: “Where is that law?

Oh… Sorry… My bad….

@David

Miller can tell the bu bloggers what is happening to the forensic lab after we have spen so much money to construct it.

@Casweell

Dont PM dtermines who act as DPS, Owen used to do so.

I have been wanting to take the time to comment on this report since I first read it. Time, however, was a factor preventing me until now.

In the wake of the hacking of the telephone of Jeff Broomes, the issue of phone hacking has become a major one in Barbados.

In most common law countries, there are laws that protect the individual’s rights to privacy. In the UK, there is the Data Protection Act 2000 (along with the legislation that accompanies it) and I provide a site that may be useful to those who are interested: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/freedomInformation/freedomInfo.shtml . In Canada, each province has its own “Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy” legislation. For instance, in Ontario it is the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90f31_e.htm

Barbados was threatened with FOI and POP legislation by this current government as a part of its political manifesto, as successive governments had failed and refused to implement same – take note, Enuff. We are still waiting.

It is to be noted that the Ontario legislation is dated 1990 (22 years go). The UK legislation, passed in 1998, came into force in 2000. Barbados, in 2012, after being promised this legislation no later than 2008, is still waiting.

Today, it is not so much the hacking (or bugging) of the traditional telephone which is the issue. Rather it is cyber attacks that are of the greatest concern. Remember that it was Jeff Broomes’ cell phone that was hacked and messages sent to Hal Gollop’s cell phone. To hack a traditional phone, you need the consent and cooperation of the phone company. The phone company will require a judicial order. And for a judge to provide a judicial order, just cause must be shown. Otherwise, you can sue the phone company (well, it may take you 20 years to determine the case, but in theory at least, if not in practice, you can sue the phone company).

However, cell phones and things like Skype and the various chat facilities provided by Google, Yahoo and Hotmail, open a whole new scope for internet identity and information theft. It is known that many law offices conduct tele and video conferences via Skype and, indeed, I have noted from international press reports that many of these are received via Skype. And you ask why this would be important?

It is important from the point of view of law offices and doctors offices – anyone individual or group whose communications may be covered by privilege. Think “solicitor-client privilege”. If that is breached by hacking, then the Constitution is breached. If it is an overseas communication from, for example, the UK, between solicitor and client, not only is the Barbados Constitution breached, but also the UK Data Protection Act.

If the hacking is being conducted by the Police in Barbados absent the proper authorisation, then it is committed by Barbados itself. I am sure you can see where that would lead.

But I have to note that even with traditional telephones, the very high percentage of use of walkabouts. Walkabouts rely on wireless, and this increases the potential for unlawful hacking.

Two summers ago, I was on a visit to the UK. I purchased myself a UK “mobile phone” on arrival in the UK. The family with whom I was staying programmed their “Bluetooth” hands-free device into my mobile phone so that I could receive calls from them while I was driving. I was at a supermarket (well, you know how we Bajans love supermarkets) and I went to connect my mobile phone to the Bluetooth – and it connected to someone else’s mobile phone and I was unwittingly a party to an extremely salacious conversation about an assignation that had taken place the previous evening. I did my best to disconnect, but not being familiar with the intricacies of the equipment, it took a while. And NO, it was NOT deliberate. Until that point, I thought I knew all there was to know about the birds and the bees – boy was I wrong!

What amazes me is that government is well aware of the problem. Indeed, the EU had a study done, entitled “ICT LEGISLATION AND THE IMPACT ON E-COMMERCE IN BARBADOS” by the Cybercrime Research Institute. The resulting report is online and here it is: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/projects/ITU_EC_ACP/hipcar/in-country_assistance/Barbados/2011_ITU_HIPCAR_Barbados_Training_Businesses.pdf . PLEASE READ THIS!!!!! IT IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!

This whole report merely underlines the desperate need for FOI and POP legislation. We look to attract foreign investment here to Barbados. Quite apart from the biggest argument why foreign investors should stay away from Barbados, which is the public service workers and the courts, why in hell would any serious investor who, like all serious investors today, is dependent on cyberspace, come to a country where he has absolutely no protection………….or redress?

Please, Chris Halsall, if I am in error on any points, feel free to correct me. I am only a fledgling in this field in which you are an expert. I defer to you with gratitude.

@Amused (September 2, 2012 at 9:23 AM): “The family with whom I was staying programmed their “Bluetooth” hands-free device into my mobile phone so that I could receive calls from them while I was driving.

Bluetooth is what is referred to as a “pico-net”. The range is something like 10 meters. Max.

What your host family allegedly did was make your phone accept connections from this handset when it was in close proximity. At no time did this function allow you to receive calls from them while you were driving.

Now, another question — why would you let someone have that kind of access to you phone?

You do have it password protected. Correct?

@ Amused .
Since I am a total technological fool , I am in no position to conclude whose phone was hacked ,ie Mr Broomes’ or mine . I can however state the bare facts . A block of messages intended for an identified cellular phone was feeding into BOTH my land line and cellular line at regular one-minute intervals . After being advised by another far more knowledgeable than I what the problem MIGHT BE , I called in the police and made the saved messages available to them . As I am led to believe the matter continues to be under investigation . Those are the hard facts .

@Amused: “You got that wrong – at least from my experience – or I am misunderstanding.

You’re not misunderstanding — I did. So your hosts provided you with a wireless headset to allow hands-free reception of calls. This then made it legal for you to take calls while driving.

@Amused: “No, I don’t have my UK mobile phone on a password but I will put one on and I don’t have a cell phone in Barbados, because of the potential for tapping.

Everyone’s cell phone should have a password. Most people don’t, though, because it’s an extra step when the user wishes to use the phone (other than when receiving calls). However, not having a password means that anyone who has physical access to the phone can do whatever they want with it if they gain access, including installing malware.

Additionally, everyone should add a password to their voice mail, or change the default. This is the vector which most “phone hacking” uses.

Lastly, there is no more risk of tapping here in Barbados than anywhere else. The “kit” to do so is Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS). At the end of the day, you shouldn’t say anything over the phone you’re not comfortable having your enemies know.

@ Amused | September 4, 2012 at 3:12 AM |

Hear! Hear! Very good call. Would be most surprised if Hal responds.
That beamer probably decapitated him; intellectually speaking of course.
If true it would reflect badly on the quality of justice in this 2×3 place.
Could you tell us, Amused, why Lady Justice (Justitia) of recent vintage carries balancing, scales, a sword and is blindfolded? Or does this have no significance in Bim?

@Hal Gollop

Thanks for responding, this is a matter which is of interest to BU and one we would like to debate as information becomes available.

@Hal. I completely understand and I did actually know better than to think I would get away with that tactic with you. And yes, I agree with you. There is not really anything else you can do.

@Casewell. Your comment above seems to suggest that I (or someone) has suggested or stated or implied that Hal is in some way culpable for the phone hacking. Let me assure you that one of the few counsel in Barbados whom I hold in the highest esteem is Hal. I am well aware that there would be no wrong-doing by Hal.

BUT, what I find most peculiar is your statement, “I have heard that in addition to those two, several of the teachers who gave evidence that was unfavourable to Broomes also suffered a similar fate.” Why was this never brought out, until you just sprung it on us all? Or is this yet another variation of the spin you have been so unsuccessfully trying to employ?

Wire tapping is not the only problem but eaves dropping by the top executives of your work place is a very serious matter. One saturday a group of us, came in work overtime, we stopped for a break and ended up watching television in the hall, then out of the blue we heard a voice asking us if we could hear him clearly, we answered in the affirmative, then the voice told us, he is the service man for some company and he is just servicing the equipment, but we must not be concerned since, it is never used.He then told us he was in the C.E.O’s office.Then we realised that many of our conversations are obviously monitored, what we thought were lights actually was some form of wire tapping device. We then wondered why was he servicing equipment that according to him was not being used. I have to add here that the C.E.O. office was 2 floors up and this is one of the Trinidadian own financial institutions in town.

And here is the publicly available documents from the ITU HIPCAR session at the Telecommunications Unit intended to help Barbados have appropriate, and internationally aligned, laws.

HIPCAR Project – Second Stakeholder Consultation and Validation and Capacity Building Workshop on the Legislative Frameworks on Cybercrime (e-Crimes), Interception of Communications, and Electronic Evidence
5-6 September 2011 (Bridgetown, Barbados)

My understanding is after this consultation the recommendations were to be passed to a “drafts person” to write the language, which would then be passed up the chain for review and eventually be passed into law.

@BU.David: “…how long do you think it will take the men in blue to solve this case?

If everyone knows that those who write the law don’t take it seriously, why should the “men in blue”?